Flare
by Calai'di
Summary: In which Gauche decides to confront V at the WDC Eve rather than the next day during a duel. VxGauche if you squint.


**Paring:** V/Gauche sort of

**Rating:** idk T

**Summary:** In which Gauche decides to confront V at the WDC Eve rather than the next day during a duel.

* * *

**Flare**

V stepped out onto the balcony, leaving the sounds of the party behind him, and took in a deep breath of the cool night air. While he had been obligated to come tonight, both to avoid suspicion and to keep an eye on IV, he had never been much of a party person and would have much preferred to spend his evening at home preparing for the duels that would come the next day.

But Tron had requested that he be there, and Tron's word was absolute.

Tron would arrive soon, he mused. He meant to crash the party for some absurd reason. V would have to head back inside for that; IV was only vaguely aware of this particular plan so he would be of no use if something went wrong.

But it would be all right for him to stay out here for a few more minutes. It was quieter and far more comfortable and what stars could be seen through the lights of Heartland were bright and beautiful.

"I knew it. It's _you_!"

V frowned and glanced over his shoulder. The silhouette of the man standing in the doorway was large and ridiculously feathery-undoubtedly the former WDC administer, Gauche. He was the only one V had seen this evening dressed in such a gaudy outfit.

"I'm sorry?" he said, really having no idea what the man might be referring to.

Gauche scowled and stalked his way out onto the balcony as well. V watched him calmly, even turning to face him a little more...right up until Gauche stopped hardly a foot away and grabbed the front of his shirt. A soft hiss escaped V's lips and he grabbed at Gauche's wrist, more as a warning to let go than to actually force him. This didn't need to escalate, and it certainly didn't need to escalate because of _him_.

"You! You're the one who kidnapped Haruto!"

Oh, so that was what this was about. V raised and eyebrow and stared back as calmly as he could manage. "And? I returned him to Kaito, as I'm sure you're aware."

Gauche scowled and tightened his grip. "What did you do to him?"

"That is no one's business but our own," V said, moving to grab Gauche's thumb. He was already sick of being manhandled, and this conversation was going to go nowhere.

"'Our', huh? Who are you working for?"

"I'm sure you'll know soon enough." V pulled back on Gauche's thumb and gave a humorless smile when the man yelped and let go. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd prefer not to miss Mr. Heartland's announcement." And he stepped around the man to head back inside.

But of course, Gauche couldn't just leave it at that. The man shot out a hand before V could get far enough away and grabbed his wrist. V supposed he might have one positive quality-he was stubborn. "Oi, I'm not done with you yet."

V didn't bother to respond to that, which he knew would probably just piss the other man off even more. Instead, he gave Gauche the most bored look he could come up with; _he_ was done with this, and that was all that mattered to him.

He was especially done with the hand grabbing his wrist just a little too hard.

Gauche scowled again, but he didn't fly off the handle again. His eyes darted across V's face, searching for _something_, although V could only guess what.

"You look familiar for some reason..." Gauche muttered after a moment. He took V's chin in his other hand and attempted to move it around to get a better look-not that V let him, forcing his head to stay as still as possible.

And again, V only stared back at him defiantly and didn't say a word. He could, of course, clue Gauche in on why he might look familiar, but it would be more interesting to see if the man could figure it out on his own. It wouldn't be any sort of loss either way.

"You don't look like you've got much 'guts'," Gauche said after a moment, finally letting go of his chin with a smirk. "You sure you can handle the duels tomorrow?"

Inwardly, V bristled at the idea that he might be weak in some way. Outwardly, he gave a smirk of his own and took the opportunity to deftly flip his wrist out of Gauche's grip while the man was distracted.

"If I were you, I'd worry more about yourself. I could duel rings around you."

"Oh yeah?" Gauche growled, scowling at him again.

V reached out to straighten the collar of Gauche's coat, ridiculous feathers and all, before turning away to, again, attempt to head back inside. "Have a pleasant evening, Gauche."

This time, nothing stopped him. But he did pause in the doorway to glance back and smile when he saw that Gauche was busy examining his collar with a satisfyingly bewildered look. He'd really only done it to mess with the man, and it was nice to see that had worked.

He didn't really think much of the other duelist, but it might be interesting running into him tomorrow during whatever was planned for the semi-finals. He might get a rather satisfying win out of him, in any case.


End file.
